Readers React: Property owners should pay for fire inspections

To the editor: Every year millions of cars in California are inspected. The reason so many cars are able to receive smog checks is simple: the owners pay for the inspections. Why? It is part of the cost of owning a car, as dirty air harms us all. (“Thousands of large L.A. buildings are long overdue for fire inspections,” June 15)

There is no reason buildings should not be inspected by the Los Angeles Fire Department because of a lack of funds to hire enough inspectors. If you own a building, you have a duty to keep it safe; fires do not respect property lines, and your failure to keep it safe endangers us all. Certainly if you rent out units in the building, you have a duty to provide tenants with a safe environment.

All of this requires inspection, and there is no reason the general public should pay for that. Charge property owners for inspection; it works for autos, and it would work for buildings.

Pieter Vandenberg, El Cajon

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